Detective Shauna Franklin

I smiled, I was going for honesty. I doubted she would believe me, until she talked to Cook of course.

"No, if you're referring to Cook, that is actually her name. Jennifer Cook, although she's the one that insisted I call her Cook."

The Detective's eyes give her away, her smile returned, more so when she said. "It's a good thing she never married Herbert Restaurant then, or you would have a bit of a problem."

I haven't laughed so much since my late wife took ill. She was a funny woman this Detective. I did mention that I was going to tell on her, the next time I saw Cook.

Shauna looked quizzically at me and said "It's your house Mister Kellerman, you don't need my permission to sit anywhere in it."

At first I smiled and then sat in the high-backed chair I had used the last couple of days, while she slept the sleep of the exhausted.

"It's called manners Detective. I have loads of them; my daughter often despairs at them but they do regulate my life rather well I tend to think."

She watched me for a moment, the food in front of her won out eventually and she went back to devouring everything on the tray. What broke anything in the way of ice between us was the burp that followed; the redness of her cheeks just made me smile a little longer as well.

I pulled air into my lungs, getting ready to address the elephant sitting in the corner.

"Detective?"

Her hand came out and stopped me in my tracks. "Can we stop there for a moment and drop the rank Mister Kellerman. I'm not even sure where this conversation is going but it will sure make the rank of Detective redundant along the way, so please, as a personal favor to me, call me Shauna."

I nodded in agreement, took a breath and set about explaining everything, so I could bring her up to date. From the time she stumbled on the drive and collapsed to the floor, scooping her into my arms was easy. But also greatly concerned for what was going on I took her into the library and called my friend the doctor.

At first Doctor Martinez wanted to send her to hospital. A selfish part of me refused, this woman had come into my life clutching a photo that she shouldn't have. I wasn't going to get answers to any questions with her in hospital. The conversation I had with Phillip Martinez that evening was one of Doctor versus friend and although words were said that couldn't be taken back we both knew that the good Doctor was doing what he could for both of us, but his leanings were still towards the patient in front of him.

Strict conditions and promises were exchanged on my part, the friend looking back at me knew I wasn't going to cross the line. It may kill me to want to, but I just couldn't betray my friend's confidence like that. So we both settled on one of the guest rooms. It made for good gossip for the staff when they turned up in the morning.

Her eyes held a faraway look for a moment, then she said. "Thank you for that, I've had my fair share of hospitals."

Once again I put my personal questions aside while I filled in even more blanks.

"Your Captain knows you're here Shauna. I phoned your precinct and talked to him at a civilized hour yesterday morning. He has placed you on sick leave, he also told me to tell you to take as much time as you need."

The questioning look came first, I'm sure she realized why I took such action when she half smiled and nodded her head. I even heard a "thank you." Leave her lips as well.

"As you can imagine Shauna, with you out for the count and on pain of death from my doctor/friend to leave you to rest, I had time on my hands."

*******

I called my wife's folks after my conversation with her Captain and told them what had happened and that I needed to speak with my daughter, it was the strangest conversation ever. When I mentioned the detective coming to the house holding a photo of both of us and her hand written note on the back, all Sophie did was squeal and say yippee.

Sophie said that she was glad that her new friend had arrived safely and that she would see us both in two weeks' time, then promptly put the phone down. Phoning back only got my mother-in-law telling me that Sophie was skipping around the room and seemed to be too busy to talk to me at the moment.

That alone got a smile from Shauna, so I continued as she headed towards the finish line with her breakfast.

"It seems clear to both of us that she knows more than you and I, what it is and when she's going to tell us has yet to be seen. But since we are not faced with the end of the world, I for one am not going to take her away from her time with her grandparents to find out what it is."

My mind stumbled over the next part, seeing how fragile this woman still was I wasn't interested in heaping more pressure on her. The conversation I had with the doctor being the main reason, if I pushed for answers, in her present state Shauna could relapse and what small progress in finding out why she was here in the first place could very well stall; in the end, I suppose honesty as well as caution won out.

I said loud enough for her to hear, but not at the usual volume of my voice. "You missed, Last Call, for your fallen friend."

Shauna visibly winced and for a second I seriously thought of changing the subject, but taking a breath and continuing seemed like the right thing to do. "Your Captain said he would record it for you. He also asked if you were going to attend the funeral."

Other than my own in the early days of Victoria's death, I have never seen such sadness in someone's eyes before. She watered up and tried so hard to speak, I held up my own hand in the hope her own panic wasn't going rampant. It was the only way I could think of to ease her pain.

"With the help and intervention of your Captain, I personally spoke to Rolland Harris's wife, she says that she won't take a word back that she said to you at the hospital, she did regret spitting in your face though. She told me to tell you that you are welcome to attend the funeral, just stay away from her and she will do the same."

This time I leaned on my legs. "So the question is, do you want to go to the funeral. I promise to hold you up and bring you back here when it's over? That's if we can get the good doctor to let you out of bed of course."

Shauna's eyes stared at the wall behind me. I spotted the nod of her head, only because I was hoping to see it.

My hand went to my pocket and I pulled my cell out. "Cara, I need a huge favor, a friend of mine needs to go to a funeral and she doesn't have that type of black dress."

Shauna smiled at my comment and the tears in her eyes found the momentum needed to run down her cheeks.

"I need it in two days Cara, the funeral is on Thursday at two, hence the huge favor." I looked at Shauna and asked her dress and shoe size, then repeated that information down the phone. "And Cara, please bring the usual items that us guys never think of as well please."

With my cell now resting on the bedside cabinet, while we continued with the logistics of our outing in two days. I thought it best not to bring the chauffeur into this conversation, the fact that I would be holding her up for the entire proceedings was going to be gossip material enough. Neither of us wanted the funeral to be about anyone but Rolland Harris and his family.

*******

Funerals and home truths...

Doctor Martinez came by later that afternoon, kicked me out of the bedroom and closed it behind himself. Citing, Doctor/Patient confidentiality.

Along with the words. "Oh I forgot to mention I'm staying for dinner since the wife has taken the children to her mother's for the evening and you know I can't cook."

The sound of a woman's laugh followed, until the door closed that is.

As always, Cook rolled with the punches and she had three trays of food ready for dinner as she put her coat on, kissed my cheek and left. I was still smiling to myself, wondering if she would ever have married a Herbert Restaurant.

We were just finishing up our bedroom picnic when the doctor said. "A funeral Marcus?"

Shauna colored slightly.

"Shauna needs closure Doc. I will be right by her side and watching her like a hawk, she will only need to nod and I will have her out of there before she's even finished nodding."

Doctor Martinez seemed to take a moment to think about it, he then looked at Shauna and asked her. Since the good doctor had tended to her two days ago he knew how far rest and a few good meals had brought her along. I knew he had already decided, he just wanted to know what she wanted and if she was actually up to this much pressure all at once.

Shauna pushed her fork around the plate for a moment. Then rested it on the plate so she could hold her other hand, her finger interlocked as she did.

"When I came to the Police Force I grew a reputation."

Her eyes looked beyond me and stared at the wall behind me once again as she went into detail. Of all the loss with her fellow officers as she carried the wounds, both mental and physical.

Hell by the time she finished I was almost in tears myself. I had gone through a fraction of what this woman went through and the only thing that held me up were my cousin and daughter. Shauna bore the brunt of so much more and even though offered help via the precinct's own counsellors, she alone bore the brunt of so much pain in her own life.

As a doctor, Phillip Martinez had seen the true extent of her physical wounds while I waited downstairs. I've never seen that man so distracted as he was when he came down from giving her a medical.

As a man, I was greatly humbled by the woman sitting in the bed in front of me.

*******

Doctor Phillip Martinez sat for a moment; nothing seemed to exist in this room other than him and the Detective. My first instinct was to prod him, just to see what reaction I would get.

Instead I placed my hand on his arm, his attention still on the woman in bed. "Doc, are you okay?"

Slowly at first, Phillip Martinez shook his head, and then he blinked. "Young lady I could do a case study on you that, by the sounds of it, could take me a lifetime."

Both Shauna and I sat riveted, waiting for the good doctor's decision. "Rest up tonight, I will come by with my nurse tomorrow and do a complete physical. I will make allowances for your time in bed. Only then will I agree or dis-agree on you going to the funeral of your former friend."

This time he stood, "I will be fair Shauna, so rest up and I will see you both tomorrow."

Phillip looked at me, his hand rested on my shoulder. "Stay and keep your guest company, I know the way out."

We stared at each other for a while, in the end I asked her if she wanted to watch some television. We settled on a movie, it amused me that she chose Titanic. I still winced at the part in the film when Rose took a swing at the handcuffs with a dirty great big axe, with her eyes closed. That's trust, mind you when a drowning man has little left in the way of hope, I suppose he would trust any hope offered to him.

It was perhaps that one moment of realization that I suddenly came to understand Shauna's dilemma, my head turned towards the now sleeping form of the woman who came to my home with a puzzle in her hands and wanted so much to understand. Even more so when she had confessed to me on one of our talks, why she was at the dock in the first place.

Doctor and nurse turned up at ten the next morning, by eleven o'clock I was once again on the phone to Cara, she had already collected the items needed for Rolland Harris's funeral, I asked her to add some casual clothes to the list, when she asked me how many, my response was a week's worth.

My cousin paused and then said. "Funerals are easy, since black is the dominant color, I need Shauna's hair and eye color?"

That part was easy for me. Cara laughed down the phone when I was almost instant with my response. I even told her what I believed to be her height to round up the details I had of her in my head.

"I bet you even know her bra size as well?"

The pause was longer this time. "That will be something you will have to discuss with my guest, underwear is secondary at the moment. What she came in has been cleaned, it will give her time to talk to you about those needs."

Cara sensed something, but was smart enough to not delve into that conversation again. "It's good to have you back Marcus, I'm so looking forward to meeting the woman who's done this to you."

I tried, but I couldn't think of a response.

"See you both tomorrow Marcus." Cara ended to call for me. I still had the phone in my hand, trying to figure out a response.

Cara came in like the whirlwind that she's always been, it took me and two of the staff to pull the rest of the bags out of her car and place then outside of Shauna's now locked room. Feeling like a spare tire after that, I went back to my home office and got on with some work, the in-laws phoned and I got the third degree. It seems that Sophie had spent the last three days smiling to herself and wanted to know if my original phone call had anything to do with it.

At first I was defensive, yet they both seemed genuinely happy that something was happening in my life that didn't include a bottle of bourbon and or antidepressants. Cara found me in my office three hours later, tears streamed down her cheeks, I shot out of my chair and had her in my arms within seconds. The sobs lasted another couple of minutes, not to mention half a box of tissues later.

"She's told me everything Marcus."

With that she stood up, pulling air into her lungs as she did. "I'm going home to hug my husband and children."

Her hand went to my arm and held on. "Tomorrow is going to be difficult for her, on so many levels. Just watch over her but for God's sake, don't smother her."

Cara leaned in and kissed my cheek, her smile had returned to her.

*******

Today was funeral day. The mood around the house was somber, the staff followed Cook's lead and made the day just as normal as they could. It would also be the first time Shauna had left the guest room since she got here. She may have been bedbound, but the four people that run my house for me could often be found flitting into her room for a five-minute chat, or just sticking their head in to see if she needed anything

I knocked and heard her hesitantly say. "Come in."

Shauna was still looking at herself in the full-length mirror. Cara was still acting as her shadow, pulling what I thought to be imaginary bits of cotton off the black dress. The hat was a masterpiece and a perfect add-on. The netting type material came down from either side of her face and covered almost half her face, from the edge of the hat to just below her nose. Her badge was pinned to her chest. A little black ribbon wrapped around part of it in respect for the fallen, in this case, her friend Rolland Harris.

"We have four Police motorcycle riders just coming through the gate. Your Captain believes it's going to get a little crowded downtown so he sent them to provide escort for you. He has also done the same for Rolland Harris's family."

Shauna nodded as she grabbed her clutch bag and gave Cara a thank you hug.

"In light of the outriders, I've asked Frank to drive us."

The confused look looked good on Shauna.

"Two reasons, if I mistakenly swipe one of the outriders due to my fear of trying NOT to swipe one of them, I do jail time and won't see my daughter again until she marries." That alone got a smile from both the women. "Secondly, he's gifted behind the wheel, not only in escape and evasion, but his also an ex-NASCAR driver. So by far a gifted driver, unlike the Sunday driver that is me that would be taking you there."

The smile came first, the laugh followed and I was sure grateful she got on board with the new arrangements. As we made our way down stairs Shauna suddenly stopped and grabbed my arm.

"Dammit, I didn't send any flowers."

My arm moved so that our fingers could interlock in my attempt to calm her. Shauna looked down and then directly at me, her mouth hung open but not much was coming out.

"I could have found the answers doing a little research, however I got your Captain on board. You sent Twenty-seven red roses and four white ones in the form of a wreath."

Shauna's voice was a whisper. "The number of years he was married and the number of children plus his wife."

I nodded. "I had them sent to your precinct and your Captain personally handed them to Rolland's wife."

Fortunately, Cara was still on hand to help fix Shauna's make-up.

*******

Whether by chance or design, Rolland Harris's family arrived before us, they were met by the good reverend and he escorted them inside.

Captain Michelson met us. "Shauna, it's good to see you." Shauna got a quick hug and then his attention went to me and I got a handshake. "It's good to put a face to a name Mister Kellerman."

"Thank you for being so understanding Captain Michelson."

I placed a reassuring hand in Shauna's and we followed her Captain into the church.

Rolland Harris's coffin was carried in a few minutes later by six of the biggest police Officers I have ever seen. The reverend had clearly been in deep talks with Rolland's wife. His sermon was a mix of time in the force and family, from his children growing up to being at the wedding of their eldest.

A few were invited to say a few words, then Rolland's wife stood and was helped to the podium by her daughter. Her words were sad to begin with but she also mentioned that her husband wouldn't have liked a sad funeral. She then talked about both their time together. By the time she walked back to her seat, the whole church knew what type of man she married and would love. Even to her own grave.

My hand seemed to be in a death grip with Shauna's the whole time Rolland's wife was at the podium. The only time that eased was when her daughter helped her down from the podium and back to her seat. Shauna knew she wasn't being frozen out, she was just being ignored in case old grudges once again surfaced. This was after all her best friend, she wanted to stand as say something but we made a deal in the car on the way to the church. We would return another day and Shauna could say goodbye to her friend away from news cameras and prying eyes.

The same Police outriders escorted us to the city limits and one by one they peeled off and with each wave goodbye, they returned to duty.

*******

We Need to Talk ...

Shauna was quiet for the start of the journey back home, about halfway back she had grabbed my hand and held on. But most of her attention was at anything going on out the window.

"Marcus, we do need to talk."

She watched as I flipped a switch on my arm rest.

"Frank, can you take the long way home please?"

Shauna's face was a picture since we were just slowing down to turn onto the drive when Frank straightened the car up and drove on.

Her voice only just managed to hold back the laugh as she said. "I meant at the house, you know, the one we've just driven passed."

It was my turn to shrug my shoulders, I even added. "Yes, but this way, if I don't like the content of the conversation, I can just leave you on the side of the road and you can make your own way home."

I'm sure Frank heard her laugh, even with the discretion divider up.

"I should warn you. I am carrying my service weapon in my clutch-bag."

"Oh great, you tell me that now."

Shauna nodded, smiled like crazy but nodded.

My attention went to the various buttons on the panel in front of me, curiosity got the better of Shauna and she asked. "What are you looking for?"

"The manufacturer told me there was an ejector seat installed as well, he did point out which button it was but I freely admit I wasn't paying attention at the time, silly me."